International Achievements

This site offers a selection of the success that Helsinki and Finland has reached in comparisons and know-how. The news is collected from several sources, among others from Finnfacts’ Good News from Finland site.

September 2017

Helsinki's city reputation continues to be strong

The reputations of different cities were mapped in the “City RepTrak – The World’s Most Reputable Cities 2017” comparison published by Reputation Institute on 28 September 2017. In the comparison, Helsinki ranked 16th out of 56 cities.

Based on the survey, the reputation of Helsinki is strong among those who know the city, but the city recognition as a whole can still afford to be bumped up.

The research method used was an online questionnaire about city perceptions. About 23,000 consumers in the leading industrial G8 countries participated in the survey. The surveyed dimensions were Advanced Economy, Effective Government and Appealing Environment. The recipients were asked about for instance their views on beauty, safety and business friendliness in the surveyed cities.

Helsinki is one of ten finalist for the European Innovation Capital (iCapital) Award. iCapital is a competition held roughly biennially by the European Commission for the purpose of finding the best urban innovation ecosystems in Europe.

Helsinki profiles itself as an innovation city through innovation platforms of its own such as Smart Kalasatama and experiments with artificial intelligence in road traffic. Other collaboration networks and cooperation projects, too, such as Smart & Clean, the Kaupunkiakatemia City Akademy, Helsinki Think Company, Health Capital Helsinki and Merit, bear witness of the city’s strong innovation ecosystem. Graphic design is also something that Helsinki uses cross-sectionally and efficiently, and the city harbours a strong culture of creative commons and business start-ups.

The University of Helsinki repeated its record ranking from last year, retaining its 56th position in the Academic Ranking of World Universities issued by ShanghaiRanking. The University maintains its goal to rank among the top 50 universities in the world.

Among Nordic universities, the University of Helsinki ranked third.

There are approximately 17,000 universities in the world. The top 800 of the Shanghai ranking featured 29 Nordic universities: 11 from Sweden, seven from Finland, six from Denmark, four from Norway and one university from Iceland.

Helsinki climbed to the 15th place in The Union of International Associations (UIA) annual congress city statistics. Helsinki is now the most popular city for international association meetings in the Nordic region.

The latest statistics published by UIA cover congress events held in 2016. Accordingly, 286 international association meetings attended by 60,790 congress visitors were held last year in Helsinki. These congresses generated almost EUR 115 million in tourism income for the Finnish capital.

Online travel agency eDreams/Travellink has published a list of the best airports around the globe, with Helsinki Airport coming out on top.

The listing was based on more than 65 000 reviews submitted by eDreams customers during 2016.

According to the site, Helsinki Airport received the highest score this year, “thanks to the efficiency of security checks, the optimal cleaning standards and the top-notch services provided to the passengers.”
More information

Helsinki places sixth in a Financial Times European city ranking

Helsinki sails to sixth place in a ranking of the best European cities by the Financial Times’ fDi Intelligence unit.

The unit produces the European Cities and Regions of the Future report, which assesses cities and regions in terms of their potential to attract foreign direct investment (FDI).
More information

The University of Helsinki placed 56th in the Shanghai ranking of world universities

The University of Helsinki placed as the 56th best university in the world in the Shanghai ranking.

This represents the University’s best-ever result on the internationally most acclaimed ranking list, and an improvement of 11 positions from the previous year.
More information

Helsinki one of the cleanest capital cities on Earth

The Telegraph has published a list of the top 10 cleanest capital cities in the world, with Helsinki coming in eighth place.

Helsinki’s enthusiasm for pedal power helped it achieve a high ranking. According to the article, “The city now has 2 400 odd miles of cycle lanes, which have been enthusiastically embraced by locals.”

The Telegraph also noted Helsinki’s ambitious plan to make motor vehicle ownership obsolete by 2025.
More information

University of Helsinki among the world’s top 100 in 24 fields

This year, The QS World University Rankings covered 46 subjects, and the University of Helsinki provides teaching in 33 of them. The University of Helsinki now ranked among the top 100 in 24 subjects, one more than last year. This year, the University’s ranking for six subjects rose, 17 remained the same as last year and 10 fell.

The QS World University Rankings includes 1,127 universities from among the world’s 18,000 in total.
More information

February 2017

Finland is the best country for raising a family

A survey by InterNations, the world’s largest network for people who live and work abroad, rated 43 different aspects of life abroad on a scale of 1-7. Finland came top because no expat parent had anything negative to say about their children’s health, children’s safety, or children’s well-being in Finland. 70% of expats said the quality of education there is excellent, this is compared to the global average of just 21%.

Expats rated everything from childcare and education, to children’s health and safety.
More information

January 2017

Helsinki third in the Global City Talent Competitiveness Index

Helsinki made it to the third spot in the Global City Talent Competitiveness Index. In the country ranking of the same report, the Global Talent Competitiveness Index 2017, Finland was ranked ninth.

The Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI) is a benchmarking report measuring the ability of countries to compete for talent. It ranks 118 countries based their ability to grow, attract and retain talent. The annual report was launched for the first time in 2013. The city-focused index was published for the first time this year.

This year, GTCI focuses on how technology affects talent competitiveness and the nature of work. Finland is ranked best in formal education, vocational enrolment, social mobility, environmental performance, employability, ease of finding employees and availability of scientists and engineers.
The Global City Talent Competitiveness Index 2017

Finland 3rd among the least corrupted countries of the worldFinland was ranked third in Transparency International's corruption index. Transparency International is a global civil society organization fighting against corruption.
More information

December 2016

Helsinki 3rd on National Geographic’s The Cool List 2017

National Geographic magazine named Helsinki among 17 destinations to visit in 2017. Helsinki was 3rd among the culture capitals, hipster hotspots, wild escapes and places generally keeping it cool in 2017.
More information

Helsinki 3rd on the Competitiveness Index of Talent

Cities and regions that previously focused their attention on attracting corporate investment and tourists are now turning to a new target – skilled professionals.

First-year version of the European Cities Talent Competitiveness Index (ECTCI) included 27 cities located in European Union countries and representing a mix of national capitals, regional centres as well as up-and-comers in the talent competitiveness space.

The aggregate results which combine data points and the corresponding scores across six pillars of talent competitiveness ranked Helsinki on the 3rd place among fellow cities.
More information

November 2016

Helsinki 3D city models won an international contest

The Helsinki 3D city model project received international attention in the Be Inspired event in London, where significant infrastructure projects are annually awarded. Helsinki won first prize in the ‘Innovation in Reality Modelling’ series.

Helsinki has used 3D data for city modelling since 1985. As part of a three-year project to be completed in 2017, the City of Helsinki launched a project to generate a 3D representation of the entire city.

The team acquired data using a combination of laser scanning and oblique photogrammetry. As part of their smart city initiative, the 3D model will improve Helsinki’s internal services and promote smart development. The project will also showcase the technology and promote its use in higher education.

The reality mesh model is useful in online services, and Helsinki is the first city in the world that makes the reality mesh model available for free use as open data.

Helsinki was ranked fourth overall in European Digital City Index which is an annual survey of European cities.

The index looked at how well 60 cities support digital entrepreneurship. Each city’s final ranking is based on 10 core metrics, including access to capital, business environment, digital infrastructure and market. Helsinki was ranked third for entrepreneurial culture and skills, as well as fourth in mentoring.

According to an annual ranking published from the Reputation Institute, Helsinki has 11th best reputation based on data from more than 23,000 consumers from G8 nations who ranked 55 cities.

The cities were ranked in three dimensions: appeal of the environment, effectiveness of the governing administration, and how advanced the economy is.

Helsinki won Global Sustainability Innovation Award

Helsinki in won the Global Sustainability Innovation Award for its Greening Events & Eco Compass project. The project has created an operating model for voluntary environmental work between cities and events. The awards were presented at the annual ICCA Congress.

The Global Destination Sustainability Index (GDS-Index) currently covers almost 40 cities worldwide. The index measures environmental deeds, social responsibility, the commitment of service providers and the deeds of convention bureaus.

Finland has been ranked third on Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2017 list, which looks at the globe’s hottest trends, destinations and experiences.
According to Lonely Planet, there’s never been a better time to discover Finland’s proudly unique culture and landscape, especially in light of 2017 marking 100 years of its independence.

University of Helsinki continues among 100 best universities in the world

According to the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, the University of Helsinki was placed 91st. The University of Helsinki retained its position as the best multidisciplinary university in the Nordic countries.

The University of Helsinki has consolidated its position among the 100 best research universities in the world. It rose to 91st position in the QS ranking published earlier in September, and 56th in the Shanghai ranking, which was published in August.

Helsinki places third in the 2016 ranking of the best cities to live in by US architecture and design oriented US Metropolis Magazine.

There was 65 cities in the first phase of the ranking, and 10 cities in the final ranking. Metropolis praised Helsinki for design and liveability, top-tier education, public transportation, safety and proximity to nature.

The University of Helsinki is nearing the top 50 universities in the world

The University of Helsinki rose to the 56th position in the Shanghai Ranking. The ranking improved 11 positions from last year.
This represents the University's best ranking in the 14-year history of the Shanghai Ranking. The University also broke its ranking record last year.
A significant factor in the University of Helsinki’s success this year is that it has a larger number of highly cited researchers selected by Thomson Reuters, represented by the HiCi indicator.

Among Nordic universities, the University of Helsinki ranked third, preceded only by the University of Copenhagen (30th) and the Karolinska Institutet (44th). Last year, the University of Oslo and Uppsala University ranked higher than the University of Helsinki.

University of Helsinki on 28th place in top 200 universities of Europe ranking

Times Higher Education World University Ranking data reveal the top 200 universities in Europe. Institutions were measured on their teaching environment, research environment, research influence, industry income and international outlook. Finland’s University of Helsinki was ranked on joint 28th place. Altogether the ranking included 6 universities from Finland.

Helsinki-Uusimaa Best Mid-sized European Region for International Investments

A survey made and published by the Financial Times ranked the Helsinki-Uusimaa Region as the best European region in the category of regions with 1,5–4 million inhabitants. Helsinki-Uusimaa was 10th among all 148 European regions.

The survey was based on data on the economic potential, which gave Helsinki-Uusimaa the top position, the human capital and lifestyle, which gave Helsinki-Uusimaa the 2nd position, as well as the connectivity, business friendliness and cost effectiveness.

Helsinki was ranked Europe’s fifth major city with Economic Potential and sixth with Connectivity, as well as ninth in both Patent Registration and Human Capital. When taking into account cities of all sizes, Finland’s capital was ranked as the 11th European City of the Future.

Data was for the publication was collected for a total of 481 locations, including 294 cities, 148 regions and 39 local enterprise partnerships. These were each assessed under five categories, including Economic Potential, Labour Environment, Cost Effectiveness, Infrastructure and Business Friendliness.

Thanks to positive policy, Finland contributes most to global innovation in the world according to a new study.

The stronger a country's contribution to global innovation, the greater its own success in innovation domestically. The countries were ranked based on 27 different factors reflecting the way their economic and trade policies contribute to innovation globally.

Research was made by a think tank of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) found.

According to the environmental performance index (EPI) 2016, Finland is the greenest country in the world. Index included 180 countries.

Finland’s top ranking is mostly based on country’s societal commitment to achieve carbon-neutral society that does not exceed nature’s carrying capacity by 2050. The report indicates that Finland has actionable goals and measurable indicators of sustainable development.

EPI index ranks countries’ performance on environmental issues in two areas: protection of human health and protection of ecosystems. The index is created by Yale and Columbia universities along with the World Economic Forum. EPI is constructed through the calculation and aggregation of nine issues that include more than 20 indicators.